


Space Travel’s In My Blood

by Bonymaloney



Series: Fighting It At Every Turn [13]
Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Dominant Max, F/M, Little spoon Max is a hill I will die on, Nipple Play, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Post-Canon, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:02:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23408749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonymaloney/pseuds/Bonymaloney
Summary: Max frowned and sat up a little straighter, somehow projecting an air of wounded dignity despite the fact he was naked in a bathtub.
Relationships: The Captain/Maximillian DeSoto
Series: Fighting It At Every Turn [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1629799
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Space Travel’s In My Blood

Pearl stood in the cockpit and watched through the glass as the Unreliable broke atmosphere above Terra 2. Their target grew from an indistinct speck to a dark green rectangle, to a large walled compound surrounded by fields. 

“That’s quite a smile, Captain.”

“Nothing like a job well done, ADA.”

Pearl was still smiling as they touched down on the Priory’s landing pad. She had a hold full of medical supplies from the labs on Monarch to deliver, and in return she’d be taking on mockapples, fun-guys and lettish. Fresh produce always went down a treat on Groundbreaker, and she would leave flush with bits. Like any spacer on shore leave might, the Captain of the Unreliable would next decide to head to Byzantium and splash some of her cash on a show. She’d sit in the cheap seats and drink elaborate cocktails, and then she’d leave just before the end and meet with Minister Clarke.

First, though, she had a favour to ask of the Prior, and that was going to be the most fun of all. 

She’d brought SAM with her, to stop him from getting lonely. That was Parvati’s theory, anyway; Pearl told herself it was for his carrying capacity. They went to work, unloading the pallets and stacking them neatly on the freight elevator for the ground crew to retrieve. It took them a while, but after time spent aboard ship it was pleasant working with the sound of the river and the lava floes from beyond the walls. It always seemed warmer when both moons were in the sky, and she liked the way it made her muscles feel. 

The hold was almost empty by the time Max stepped through the Priory gates at the head of a small group, shotgun on his back. Max’s hair was a little greyer than it had been, his limp slightly more pronounced. She’d thought he was dead, back on Tartarus. Had patched him up as best she could then kept going, leaving him pale and still behind her. SAM had carried his limp body back to the ship, and Ellie and Zora had worked miracles; but Pearl thought that in the end he’d been saved by his own stubborn determination to not die on the prison planet. 

He smiled the way he always did, as though he was challenging her to ask him exactly what it was he was smiling about. Pearl liked to think she knew. He was wearing black workwear, a black hat, big black boots. He projected authority, but an authority that was ready to get its hands dirty. And as she looked closer, she saw he was spattered with blood.

“It’s not mine,” he said, following her gaze. “Some marauders kept getting into the crops, so we tracked them back to their hovel. A good haul.”

He handed the pack he was carrying to a red haired woman who emerged from one of the buildings. Pearl recognised her from previous visits. A former UDL quartermaster, now the steward of the Priory stores. 

“Maybe they were hungry?”

“Then they can come to me and ask for it.” His voice was happy and fierce. “I’m very glad to see you, Captain.”

“Me too.” She turned to SAM. “Ok big guy, think you can manage the rest of it? I’ll see you back at the ship.”

“WARNING! SAM’s Lyse-All Organic Stain Remover™ is NOT compatible with human skin!” SAM announced by way of farewell. She pondered the implications of that as she followed Max inside. 

Although his office was larger than his cabin had been aboard ship, he still had books piled in the corners. There was a large, well made desk that caught the light from a real window, a comfortable chair and a crackling fire. His shelves were covered in things he’d collected. Tossballs, scientific models, OSI reliquaries; the incense burner, bearing the marks of recent use. The cigarette case that she’d given him on Roseway, back when she barely knew him, because she saw how desperately he wanted. 

“Parvati and Junlei said hi, Ellie says go fuck yourself,” she said, reaching into her pack. “And Nyoka gave me this for you.” She handed him a bottle of Stellar Rye, Monarch’s finest small-batch whiskey. It was barely a step above moonshine, but the bottle was pretty. 

“I’ll bet it tastes of sulphur,” Max groused. “But thank you Ms Remnarin-Wentworth.”

“Felix still lives in Cascadia.”

“Yes, he wrote to me, actually. Some nonsense about owing him fifty bits over a tossball game. It sounds like he’s working hard, though; and his writing is really coming along. You know, if I’d had a son like Mr Millstone, I’d be… I’d be horrendously disappointed, of course. Now, I’ve got something I think you’ll like to see.”

It wasn’t like him to drop hints, she thought as she followed him into the bedroom. He was usually quite open about it when he wanted to fuck. There was a new door in the wall where the window used to be - he’d evidently added another module to his quarters. 

She stepped through and stopped in her tracks at the sight. A huge tiled bathtub, filling with clear steaming water as Max worked at a terminal on the opposite wall. He grinned at her, his pride and the delight he took in her being there evident. 

“What do you think,” he asked her. He tapped a button, the water cut off, and he began to unbutton his shirt. 

Pearl looked on with pleasure as he undressed and stepped into the water with a grateful sigh, letting his whole body sink beneath the surface before re-emerging, puffing and blowing to clear the water from his ears. He ran his fingers back through his hair, then turned to her. Little droplets clung to his eyelashes and his chest hair like jewels. 

“Well?” he asked, expectant, so she grabbed a washcloth and trailed warm water across him as he basked. She soaped his chest and arms slow and through, then slapped the cloth over his face, covering his eyes and making him start. He laughed and grabbed her by the wrist, drenching the sleeves of her shirt as he pulled her close to kiss her. “Join me, Captain. I assure you, it’s just the thing after a long flight.” His tone was courteous, as though he were offering hospitality to a guest rather than asking her to get naked and jump in the tub with him; but his cheeks were flushed with the heat of the water and his excitement. 

Most of the fancy domiciles in Byzantium had bathtubs, and Pearl had availed herself of the opportunity as chance permitted. But this was somehow fancier than all of them; the woodsmoke smelled better than the fancy lotions, and the water seemed fresher. 

Who are you kidding, she told herself. It’s the company. 

Max lounged at the other end of the tub, wiry arms propped over the sides. He closed his eyes and laid his head back, and Pearl admired his beauty. Straight brows, full lips, long dark lashes. Whirls of soft, coarse hair interrupted by the occasional scar scattered across his chest, forming into a central stripe that lead down below the surface of the water to where the rest of him was concealed. 

The corner of his mouth quirked in a grin. He was watching her beneath hooded eyelids. 

“Like what you see, Pearl?”

Pearl grinned back. He’d put himself on display in order to catch her looking, and there was no denying it. 

“It’s very impressive, and so’s the bath. You did all of this yourself?” A weak gambit, but Max’s ego was still there to be flattered. His face lit up. 

“Ms Holcomb provided a lot of input regarding the heating and drainage, but I programmed the system, and the tub itself is all my own work. I don’t know if cleanliness is next to orderliness or not, but it is a wonderful sensation.”

“A lot of effort just to take a bath.”

“Thinking on such a small scale? That’s not the Captain I remember. The entire Priory has hot running water.”

The thought of what that would mean to colonists and spacers used to water rations from a rusty sink was staggering. 

“That’s incredible. You must have such a knack for this stuff. You ever think… maybe you actually would have made a good labourer?”

“Hardly.” Max frowned and sat up a little straighter, somehow projecting an air of wounded dignity despite the fact he was naked in a bathtub. “Once I had proof of concept I delegated the rest of the building. And besides, this is about far more than simple labour - it’s a projection of our power. People see us enjoying luxuries, the trappings of success. They flock to our cause, and so we become successful. That was one thing the OSI did well.”

Pearl shrugged, remembering starving parishioners in beautiful buildings. But the Priory was a place to feed people and treat their ailments as well as put them to work, so she poked his butt with her toe by way of apology. The corner of his mouth curled up in a smile. 

“Anyway, Max, I need a favour, need to borrow your other skills for a while. Guess who Hiram tracked down via the aetherwave chatter? The one and only Dr Anton Crane. Dr Chartrand could use him on her team, but can you believe it, he’s trying to buy his way out to another colony?”

Max’s lips spread into a slightly sinister grin. “Would you say he needs to be persuaded?” He squeezed her foot beneath the surface of the water, so she kicked him softly in the belly. The water sloshed. 

“I think he just needs someone to explain the Halcyon problem to him. Enthusiastically.” She felt Max grab her by her ankles. “Hey, remember that awful woman in Byzantium that thought you were my personal ma -“

He pulled her towards him and she slid beneath the surface of the water, shrieking with laughter. 

Pearl chased him through his quarters, both of them streaking water across the floor, until Max stopped suddenly, letting her slam into him and wrapping his strong arms around her. He kissed her hard, lips hot against hers, his tongue claiming her mouth. The lines of his body were taut with excitement, his cock nudging eagerly against her pubis. She trailed kisses along his jawline and down his throat until she could capture his nipple between her teeth. She bit down gently and wrapped her hands around his shaft, edging his pleasure with a little pain as she handled his satisfying size, the soft skin and the blood hot iron hardness beneath. He groaned, and she felt his fingers tightening in her hair. 

Max pushed her forward onto the bed, put his hand between her shoulder blades and pressed down, covering her with his body. Pearl buried her face in his pillow, breathing in the scent of his hair oil and the sharp musk of his sleep sweat. She felt the mattress shift under his weight as he moved, arranging her with firm sure hands until he was lying behind her. One arm wrapped around her waist and held her close, while the other cradled her head. She could feel the blunt head of his cock tracing along her slit. He gripped her jaw and turned her head, staring intently as he buried himself in her to the hilt.

The sudden, delicious ache as he filled her cunt was too much for her. Pearl gave a ragged moan, suddenly breathless. She closed her eyes against the overwhelming sensation. 

“No.” Max’s voice was husky. “Watch me while I fuck you.” He pressed hot velvet kisses to her neck, her shoulder and her cheekbone, savouring her the way she had him. “Perfect. Everything is perfect.”

He released his grip and stuck his fingers in her mouth instead, and she sucked at them as he growled with approval. Fingers wet, he slid his hand down her body until he could press his fingertips to the hood of her clit and stroke her. He took it slow, dragging almost his entire length out of her before snapping his hips forward and plunging into her deep and hard. Each thrust sent a wave of pleasure shuddering through her entire body. Max’s skin was hot and sweaty against her back, his fingers trailing a teasing pattern across her breasts, her belly and thighs, flooding her with a deep powerful ecstasy so sweet she couldn’t stand it. She clutched at his thigh, her nails leaving raw stripes to urge him on. 

“Max…” she whined through gritted teeth.

“I love it… fucking love it when you say my name...”

“Max, please…”

He groaned and bit her shoulder in response. His fingers began stroking her clit in a deeper, circular motion, and he ground into her with every thrust. 

“Come for me, Pearl,” he gasped, “Come on my cock, let me feel you…”

It was the wild desperate look in his eyes as well as his words that tipped her over the edge. Max fucked her through it, kept going until she was overstimulated and whimpering in protest. He finally buried his face in her neck and groaned, and she felt him shaking with pleasure as he spilled inside her. 

After a long moment he rolled off her, and they lay side by side. Pearl flinched, rubbing feeling back into the arm that had been trapped beneath her. 

“I’m sorry,” Max chucked, sounding anything but. She hooked her leg over his to keep him close, and lay gazing up at the firelight flickering on the ceiling of his bedroom. The bed was freshly oiled spinewood, and she wondered idly whether he’d built that himself too. 

“I figure I’ll go after Jameson first. He’ll probably lead us to Dr Crane,” she said after a while. “How long do you think until we’re ready to leave?”

“I run the Priory very efficiently; handing over to my deputy shouldn’t take long. And it will be good to be back aboard the Unreliable for a change.” He took a breath and moved onto his side to face her. “I suppose I’m going to ask you the same question as always.” His tone was light, but his body was tense, forcing himself to sound casual.

“I’m going to give you the same answer.”

Max smiled sadly and looked away. Pearl’s heart ached for him, but only a little. He sighed. 

“May I ask why?”

“Because… because as soon as you get what you want, it's not enough for you any more.”

“There is no one else,” he said instantly. 

“That’s not what I meant. There hasn’t been anyone else for me either...”

Max tried and entirely failed to avoid looking smug.

“...but I’m not talking about sex, I’m talking about our lives. I couldn’t stand knowing I wasn’t enough for you. And I’m not sure anything ever could be.”

“You know, the same thing could be said of you,” he replied, his voice acerbic. No defence, only counterattack; that was the Max she loved. 

“You're right. That’s why I live on a spaceship. I’ll be your Captain, but I can’t be your wife, Max.”

“My entire life, I thought that I would solve the Grand Equation and be enlightened,” he murmured. “Then I resigned myself to violence; but at least, I thought, there was a place for me in the Plan, even if I would never understand it. Now, l understand. The Plan isn’t real, the chaos is all around us, and I am a guide and a shelter.”

“But I’m not.”

He frowned at her, deep and dark, but she looked in his eyes before he turned away; she knew he was sad as well as angry. When she fitted herself against his back and wrapped her arm around his waist he took her hand, and she fell asleep with his heart beating against her palm.

**Author's Note:**

> Pearl’s ending is based on the ending I got in my first playthrough, more by luck than judgement. Reed and Lilya died, which I regretted; Rockwell died too, which my only regret is I couldn’t go back and kill him twice. But overall it sounded like things worked out surprisingly well for the colony.
> 
> Max’s ending is a combination of all his ending slides except the one where he becomes Bishop of the OSI. If you want to read a series based in that setting, I can’t recommend KanuKoris’ series The Bishop DeSoto, Long May He Reign enough.
> 
> This is the end of this series now. I’ll probably write more (porny, lets face it) stuff set in the Outer Worlds, because I love the heck out of this game. If you’ve been reading along and especially if you were one of the people kind enough to leave a comment; then thank you so much and I am so glad you enjoyed it!


End file.
